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I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. "l 




UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 



LIFE AND CHARACTER 



Robert M. A. Hawk 

(A REPKESENTATIVE FROM ILLINOIS), 



DKLIVEKEU IN THE 



HOUSE OF REPRKSENTATIVES AND IN THE SENATE, 



FORTV-SEVENTH CONGRESS. 



U.S. ^'^^u c^., isf /h^^ig'5''-'^^ 



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PCBLISHKD BY ORDER OF CONGRESS. 



0174 



WASHINGTON. 

HI) VKKNMENT rUlNTING OFFICE. 

1883. 






J(,»INT KESOLI'TIUN to luovido for the publioatiiin of the inontnrial addresses delivered 
upon the life and eharaeter of Honorable K. M. A. Hawk, of Illinois. 

Itinolrid hy ihe Htnntc and House of Uiprenevlaliris of Ihe United Slates of 
America in Congriss assenMed, 'J'liiit tlu'ie lie printed twelve tluni.sjiml copies 
of the meiiiorial addresses deliveied in tli<' Senate and Ilcm.se of Kepresenta- 
tives npon the life ai.d charactei of ilonorable Kobrrt M. A. Hawk, late a 
Representative from the State of Illinois, together with a jiortrait of the 
deceased, nine thousand copies thereof for the use of the House of Repre- 
sentatives, and three thousand copies for the use of the Senate. Aud a sum 
snHicient to defray the exiiense of preparing and printing the portrait of the 
deceased for the publication herein jirovidcd for is lierel).v apiniipriated out 
of an.v moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated. 

Approved, February "^4, IriHU. 
2 



ADDRESSES 

ON THE 



Death ov Robert M. A. Hawk. 



PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 



In the House of Representatives, 

June 30, 1882. 

Mr. Henderson. Mr. Speaker, the sad duty if* devolved upon 
me of announcing to the House the death of my late colleague, 
Hon. Robert M. A. Hawk, a Representative in Congress from 
the fifth Congressional district of the State of Illinois. He died 
at his rooms in this city last night at the hour of ten o'clock and 
fifty minutes., p. m., after a very brief illness. 

I will only say at this time that all of us who remember Major 
Hawk, as in his crij)pled condition he came into and went out of 
this Hall, will feel saddened at the announcement of his sudden 
deatii, and that at some future day the House will be asked to pay 
a proj)er tribute to his memory. 

I offer the resolutions which I send to the Clerk's desk, and ask 
for their adoption. 

The Clerk read as follows : 

Resolved, That the House has heard with sincere regret the aunouucemeut 
of the death of Hod. Robkrt M. A. Hawk, late a Rei>re8entative from the 
State of Illinois. 

Resolved by the House of lieprenentativea {the Senate concurring herein), That. 
a special joint committee, of seven members of the House and three members 
of the Senate, be appointed to take order for superintending the funeral and 
to escort the remains of the deceased to their last resting place; and that the 
necessary expenses attending the execution of this order shall be paid out of 
the contingent fund of the House. 

3 



4 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF ROBERT M. A. BAWE. 

Kemlred, That the Clerk of thl^ Hoii8« coniiiinnieiite the foregoing resolii- 
tious to the Senate. 

Kesolved, That, as a mark of resiiect to the uieuiory of the deceased, tliis 
House do now adjourn. 

TliL' resolutions were uiiaiiiinoiisly adopted. 

Before the announcement of tlie result, 

The Speaker said: Tiie Chair has been furnished with tiie 
names of the following members to accompany the remains : 

George R. Davis, of Illinois ; Lewis E. Payson, of Illinois ; 
Samuel W. Moultou, of Illinois ; William H. Calkins, of In- 
diana ; George C. Cabell, of Virginia; James A. McKenzie, of 
Kentueky, and William Cullen, of Illinois. 

The Chair will also state that the following members of the 
House will act as pall-bearers: 

Thomas J. Henderson, of Illinois; James W. Singleton, of Illi- 
nois; Charles G. Williams, ctf Wisconsin ; William T>. Kelley, of 
Pennsylvania; William M. Springer, of Illinois ; Dudley C. Has- 
kell, of Kansas; George D. Robinson, of Massachusetts; Samuel 
S. Cox, of New York; J. Proctor Knott, of Kentucky, and John 
H. Lewis, of Illinois. 

And then, in pursuance of the last resolution (at eleven o'clock 
and seventeen minutes a. m.), the House adjourned. 



In the House of Repkesentatives, 

Febi-mn-y 6, 1883. 
Mr. Hitt. The House by its .special order set apart this hour 
for the consideration of resolutions expressive of its esteem for the 
late Hon. Robert M. A. Hawk, and in order that liis associates 
might have opportunity to pay fitting tributes to his character and 
memory. I tlieretl)re offer tiie resolutions which I send to the desk. 
The Clerk read as follows : 

lloaolved, That the House has heard with profimnd regret the announeo- 
ment of the death of Hon. Robert M. A. Hawk, late a member of this House 
from the State of Illinois. 



ADDRESS OF MR. EITT, OF ILLINOIS. 5 

Resolved, That, as a tuark of respect for his memory, the officers and members 
of this House will wear the usual badge of niouruin^ for thirty days. 

ReKolfed, That a copy of these resolul ious be communicated by the Clerk of 
the House to the fauiily of the deceased. 

Resolved, That, as a further uiark of respect, the House at the conclusion of 
these memorial proceedings sliall adjourn. 

Besolved, That the Clerk couimunicate these residntions to the Senate. 



Address of Mr. Hitt. of Illinois. 

Mr. Spe.^ker : Duriiigtho present CVmoressdeatii iiasiuanvtimes 
arrested the intense and clamorous activity of this iiody liy the 
announcement of the fall of one member after another. When that 
uiessenger passes by it is always solemnizing-, but never so striking 
and so sad as when a man in the prime of life, in the fullness of 
his powers and promise, is suddenly cut down. We pause to-day 
by the grave of one who fell suddenly, his harness on, in the midst 
of labor and strength and hope, to honor his memory with tilting^ 
ceremony, to record on the Journals of the House and express by 
friendly voices the large measure of esteem in which he was held. 

At sudi a moment we naturally turn back to the story and lesson 
of his life. I will not dwell upon his career as a legislator in this 
body. You .saw it; you know it well. At the mention of his 
name every one here recalls the tall, manly form of Major Hawk, 
sitting erect and attentive in his place or moving haltingly and 
heavily on his canes and the one leg that battle had left him, his 
frank, earnest face, his clear, kindly eye, his courteous be.'iring, his 
full beard just turning to gray, his sincere, decided tone of voice. 

His life was terminated so abruptly that it seems a story half 
told; but it is a career of real interest, showing at each step the 
growth of a strong, well-rounded, admirable character. 

RoHERT Moi'FETT Alli80N H.iWK was l)orn April 23, 1839, on 
a farm near Greenfield, in Hancock County, Indiana, where his par- 
ents had recently come from Al)ingdon, Virginia. His mother was 
of Scotcii-Irish blood, that viii'orous element which has furnished so 
much of strength and directing energy to the American people. 
She was the daughter of Captain MottHt, an Indian fighter, and 



6 LIFE AND CHAUACTEIl OF UOIiERT M. A. HA l\K. 

Iicr grandfather was killod at tlio hattle of tlie (Jreat Kaiiawlia. 
j\Iaj()r JIawk inlieritcd tlie soldierly instinct. 'Plic father was an 
intelligent, energetii;, industrious, highly respected man. 

The little family had lived there near seven yi'ars, and three 
children had been born to them, when the mother died. Mr. Hawk 
soon after removed with his children to Illinoi-s, and settled in Car- 
roll (Jounty, where he married liis second wife, and where they are 
now living. Their long lives have been peaceful and hap])y; many 
chililren have 4ilessed their home. Of old Mr. Hawk's fourteen 
sons and daughters nine are living to minister with affection to the 
advancing years of the j)atriarch. 

The infancy anil growing years of Robert Hawk were pa.s.sed in 
the healthful surroundings of fiirm life in a new iMjuntry. That 
little county of Carroll, in Northwestern lUiuois, now all covered 
with farms, was in those early days a region of wild, swelling prairies 
of singular beauty, breaking away westward toward the iMississi])pi 
River, its border, into great ridges, and crossed here and there by 
^ines of grove bordering the streams. All who visited that coun- 
try in its first unpeopled freshness were charmed with the landscape 
and th<' rich promise of its coniing years, promise already in large 
]iart fuliilled. The settlers were of an excellent class, sterling men 
and women, intelligent, brave, large-hearted, laborious, and honor- 
ing labor — -so far-seeing that they built schools and churches be- 
fore they changed their log cabins into better houses. He had 
the training of such schools, the precepts and example of good 
parents, the wholesome influence of home, and the simple life of a 
new country. By them his character was fashioned. 

At sixteen he taught for a time in one of the common schools. 
Habits of study and industry were early formed. He worked on 
the farm, seizing every opportunity for study, preparing for col- 
lege — the fruitful dream of so many a farmer boy. At last, after 
long ettbrt and delay and diligent application, he was ready ; and 
in September, 1861, he entered Eureka College, in Woodford 
County, Illinois. 

lint 18()1 was not a favorable year for scholastic meditations or 
])ursuits. It was the opening, the arming hour of th(> war. The 
driuu-i)eat of that memorable ciioch disturbed the studies and tired 



ADDRESS OF MR. JIITT, UF ILLISOIS. 7 

the souls of how many thousands of students ! Remember, too, 
young Hawk was now twenty-two years of age, a full-grown man, 
taller than those around him, of powerful frame, full of conseious 
strength. His uprigiit mind, trained to principle, felt all the obliga- 
tion of patriotic duty, and his heart responded in full sympathy 
to the lofty passion of the hour. He tried hard to keep to his 
studies, but after a few. months more, wiien the reverses to tlic 
Union armies in 1862 brought President Lincoln's call for 30(),0U(> 
more volunteers, he threw his l)ooks asitle and left college forever. 
He reverently consulted his parents, and shall I mention another 
one still, and a dearer one, the star of his young heart, wh(( bade 
him go, while she would wait till her hero came marching home. 
There was a touch of old-time chivalry in tiiis martial lover's de- 
jtarture. 

Tiu'oughout that summer of lcS(J2 the whole of Northern Illinois 
was an animated, enthusiastic recruiting field. Every neighbor- 
hood was stirred with the profound excitement that pervaded the 
people. The young men from the farms, leaving the harvests un- 
gathered ; from the workshojis, from the professions, from every 
class, formed themselves into companies. There were examples of 
devotion to the highest motives of man in almost every hinisehold. 
The companies poured into Ki)ckford from a dozen counties and 
were there organized into regiments. In the company from Mount 
Carroll Robert Hawk went to Rockford in July, and thev were 
soon organized, with others, into tiie Ninety-second Illinois Volun- 
teers. They elected their company officers, and young Hawk was 
chosen first lieutenant. 

No body of men su|)srior to them in the finest qualities that 
make an intelligent soldiery went into the great volunteer army of 
citizens, and an election by their choice was high evidence of per- 
sonal worth. 

In September the regiment departed for the field, going to 
Kentucky, where they formed part of General Baird's division. 
Throughout the remainder of that year they were almost inces- 
santly marching in various o])crations in Kentnckv. It is said 
tliat thev marched ncarlv eight hundred miles in that time. 



8 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF ROIiERT M. A. HAWK. 

Lieutenant Hawk wa.s soon noted for his fine soldierly Jiearing, 
liis attention to duty, tiie intelligence with whicii he learned the 
art of war aud adapted himself to camp life. At Winchester and 
at Danville he showed the coolness and (x>uraii;e of the soldier at 
the right moment. 

In January he was promoted to he captain. Soon after the regi- 
ment went by steamer to Fort Doiielson, .whi(;h was in a critical 
position and hard pressed, the attacking force being led by the iion- 
orable gentleman from Alabama [Mr. Wiieeler], whose active, 
able spirit was as manifest then as here in these happier, peaceful 
days of debate. The spring was taken up with operations near 
Fraidvlin, where they formed j)art of (iordou Granger's corps. In 
June they were engaged al)out Trianna and in the defense of tiiat 
|)la-(j*', then at 8helbyville and Wartrace, where, by order of ( icn- 
eral Rosecraus, aud to their great satisfaction, they were attached to 
Wilder's brigade of mounted infantry. Thus transformed, a new 
and far more active life began, and during all the rest of the war 
tiiey were almost incessantly in movement. Over the mountains 
they went into the Tennessee Valley, liack to the river, on toward 
Ringgold, where Captain Hawk, witii two companies, repulsed a 
body of the enemy, superior in force, who had attacked a teamsters' 
camp. In the operations before aud bevi>nd Chattanooga tin v 
were ever in advance or doing other duty belonging to this arm of 
the servi<>e. 

At Chickamauga Captain Hawk, with his company, was on 
courier duty and served at the hcadcpiartcrs of general Roseci-ans 
fiii-oughout that terrible battle, carrying messages to various ])arts 
of the field. " When the right of the army was crushed the gen- 
eral, followed by Major Hawk and his reserve of Company C; 
da.shed along the broken lines, amid shot and shell, endeavoring to 
rally the retreating mass, but it was like attempting to stay the 
ocean's tide by throwing pebbles in its way." These are the words 
in which the scene was described by an officer of ilic icgiincnt who 
was an eye-witness. 

He continued on courier duty under (icneral Tlionias until De- 
cember, when he I'ejoined the i-egiment at Capcrton's Ferry. In 



ADDRESS OF MB. HITT, OF ILLINOIS. 9 

the spring they wore placed in Kilpatriok's cavalry and were there- 
after under that restless and gallant ciininiander. 

In the engagement at Tunnel Hill Captain Hawk wa,s remarked 
for coolness and efficiency. They were in fre(iuent combats through- 
out the Atlanta campaign ; they took part in the marcli after Hood ; 
and then came Sherman's march to the sea, one of the most fasci- ' 
nating chapters in militar}- history. The cavalry, protecting the 
front, flanks, and rear of the advancing army of four great in- 
fantry columns through a hostile country, was ever in motion. 
Captain Hawk showed peculiar skill in some of these operations. 
They were in many minor engagements, at Powder Kiver, at 
Waynesborough, and other places in the Caroliuas ; but I pass on 
to the last I shall mention, April 10, 1865, in North Carolina, 
when they were just touching upon the end of the war. They 
were pressing the enemy when they came to Swift Creek, not far 
from Raleigh, about 10 o'clock in the forenoon. The bridge had 
been partially destroyed, and the enemy held the opposite side. 
Three com]>anies crossed the stream wading. The bridge was re- 
])aire(l. The remainder of the regiment crossed. Just then an 
officer rode up from the rear, bringing the news of Lee's surrender. 
The lines resounded with exulting shouts of joy. But the en- 
emy, holding an earthwork on the hills opposite, had lost nothing 
of their oft-tried courage, and charged the advance companies, who 
were driven back ; but the main body of the regiment checked 
them and made a counter-charge, driving the enemy up the hill 
and out of their first line of works. Between their first and second 
line of rifle-pits the Ninety-second halted to reform, and Captain 
Hawk, as he rode before the line rallying the men to stand firm, 
fell just as the bugle sounded the advance, pierced by a terrible 
wound from a minie-ball, which cut the iliac artery and jiassed 
out near the center of the al)domen. The mist gathered over his 
eyes as he heard the victorious shouts of his men, who swept by 
where he lay, sinking, apparently dying. 

SiH-geon Helm, who was close at hand, was by his side in a few 

moments. In a recent statement he thus describes his condition : 

The lilixiil was .spoiitiiif;' from him iu large quautities, so iiiiuh so that I 
thought he would ceitaiulv blfcd to death. Very aoou he t'aiuted; aud it is 



10 LIFK AND CHARACTER OF ROBERT M. A. HAWK. 

licic lliat lli(> Hnrf;i<'al iii'ciiliaiitics of tlii' case conii' in. lie reiuaiiieil in that 
taint two iir tlirrc ininnti'M, sd loiiR, inilciMl, tliat I snpposcd lie was dviuf;; 
lint had it not Iieen for that faint it wonld have been impoHsihle to have saved 
him: he wonld not have snrvlved three niinntes. While in that fondition 
I hi- action of his heart was so nearly stopped that the blood almost ceased to 
eirenlute and ft'ive time for a clot of blood to form aronud the wonnd in the 
torn iliac artery, thus preventing further heniorrha{je. I do not suppose there 
is another case of that kind anywhere ; and this made the matter one of in- 
terest to the entire medical fraternity. 

Tito Wdiindcd (ifficor was tLMidcrly carried to a iiciohhorino- house 
and at'ter\\>iird to hospital. Tiic cii'ddation was cut otl' tVoiii tlio 
ri<;ht Ic'H', w hicli began to mortify and was auipntatcd. Sjowiv and 
thniiiiih long anguish he recovered, until at lust his vencrabli' 
father, who had coaie to his side, took him home. His f'aniilv 
greeted his pale and wasted face with tears of joy and pity ; and 
she who for anxious years had faithfully kept the vigil of love for 
her returning hero now w'elcomed him back. In July following 
they were married. For seventeen years, to the end of his life, 
that accomplished and cnitivated lady presided with grace and dig- 
nity over the hos]>italitics of their lieantifu! iiome at ^fount Car- 
roll, encouraging and aiding iiini in his incessant labors; and nianv 
honorable memliers, his colleagues, who have met her in tiiis city 
will share in the symjiathy due to her grief as she sits to-dav with 
her fatherless children in their sorrow-stricken house. 

The grateful jx'ople of his county elected him that same year to 
the post of connty clerk. As lie liccame more widely known he 
was more and more esteemed, and again and again, and vet again 
thev re-ele<'tcd him. He was an efticicnt and accommodating puii- 
lic (illiccr, laborious and punctual. 1 have been told that such was 
his svstem and industry that while performing all the<luties of this 
position he found opportunity for a course of legal study. He re- 
signed in 1877 to accept a seat in the Forty-sixth Congress, to 
which he had been chosen by the peojile of the fifth Congressional 
district. He was again elected to the Forty-seventh Congress, and 
last year, just as the convention was about to assemble to renomi- 
nate him for another Icrni, tlic\' rcct'ivcd the telegram of his sud- 
den death, .lunc "J!), and aiijoiirned ['nv his funeral. lie died In 
mid-career. 



ADDRESS OF MR. BITT, OF ILLINOIS. H 

Mr. Speaker, the gentlemen of tliis Hoii.se wlio acoonipanied his 
remains from liere to their last restini^ place at his home will not 
forget the vast throng who came by thousands to manifest their 
sorrow for their beloved neighbor and friend and representative. 

He was a man of many fricjnds. He made every one his friend 
by unconsciously showing in every word and act how worthy he 
wa.s of friendship, how pure his mind, how gentle his heart. 

A quiet man, without sensational brilliancy, his upright Christian 
character, vigorous sense, genuine honesty of soul, and strong, placid 
nature inspired confidence. He was trusted most by those who 
knew him best. No men ever had a better opportunity to know an- 
other than the soldiers of his regiment had to know him. In the 
fiery furnace of war, in the daily life of the camp, marching and 
fighting, man beside man, for months and years, the whole nature is 
brougiit out, every side i.^ shown, and if the man is not genuine it 
will be discovered. Thevcan not make a mistake in estimatinar 
him. Their love and respect for Major Hawk were unbounded. 
Last summer at their annual reunion the joy of that festal day 
vva.s mingled with general sorrow, expressed in a hundred touching 
ways, for their comrade so recently gone, and words of regret and of 
])raise were on every lip. 

He was truly representative — the tyjte of what our country pro- 
duces in numberless instances — a home-bred American bov risino' 
with years into increasing strength as new responsibilities and new 
iionors came to iiim, a self-ivliant man who set no traps to catch suc- 
(^ess, Init went straight on in his jilain duty. His faculties were equal 
to his opi)ortunitics ; and iiis whole lift', from the time he left school 
until his death, wa.s passed in tiie public service — militarv or civil — 
everywhere with fidelity and zeal. 

He never lost his simple manners, and he was guided by the clear 
common sense of the plain citizen. His convict"ons were earnest ; 
his reasoning direct. His conversation was pleasant, flowing on in 
a vein of good sense and good iuiinor, warmed with a genial spirit, 
and was always fitting. In any company he was self-possessed, at 
ease, and dignified, and his dignity was not lessened by an amiability 
wiiich was natural to him. His courteous regard fi)r others was not 



12 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF ROBERT At. A. HAWK. 

a mere liahit to cDnciliatc or attract supporters, hut arose from ster]- 
iiii; «i<)()(luess of heart, (^f a cheerful disposition and a spirit averse 
to iiates, Ills fraui< face was always pleasant to hjoU upon. Tiie peo- 
])h' of liis district iieid him in afliu-tion. Wlien lie cnuw into a vil- 
laii'c his a|)pearanee brought a group of friends about the lame sol- 
dier, and you could tvnw him through the town at a glance l)y the 
circle that surrounded him. 

As a member of this House be made no pretensions to leader- 
ship, but he was always at his post, and not only regular In attend- 
ance, but carefid in attention to the business of legislation. Dur- 
ing the first session of this C'ongress I often saw him, and 1 ad- 
mired the direct, prompt manner in which he dispatched business 
here and at the De]>artments. As a speaker his remarks on the 
floor were not so frequent as to make them common, but were prac- 
tical and thoughtful, and were listened to with much respect. In 
C(jmmittees, those great laboratories where so large a part of legis- 
lation is done, where errors and crudities are .searched out and 
pruned away, and each provision of a ])roposed law adjusted to the 
others and to existing law, he was a conscientious, judicious worker. 
e.\amining every phase of a snl)ject with patient cart'. In his own 
atfiiirs he was an excellent business man, and he brought the meth- 
ods of business to public, interests. 

He understood all the feelings of the laboring cla.ss. His own life 
was one of lal)or. He knew the value of a day's work. He niiu- 
gled with the working worhl, and sympathizt'd with povertv ami 
hope struggling for better things. He knew what it was to pitss a 
long day imder the sununer sun in fai'ui work ; what it was to write 
twelve hotu's a day in an oHice. Yet he was more than a laliorer; 
he appreciated tho.se qualities in strong, sagacious minds bx- wliich 
they can combine and direct others, and lead great entei-prises to 
sucxiess. He studied the wants of all impartially in framing legis- 
lation, but his heart inclined instinctively to the gi'cat nndtitude 
who can not come to Washington and ])lead their cau.se before com- 
mittees — the jicoplc at large, upon whom the law nnist operat(\ 

in promoting the interests of his constituents he was watclil'ul 
and loval to tiicm lirst. He reiircscutecl a district where there is 



ADDHESS OF MR. HITT, OF ILLINOIS. 13 

much iiKU-pcnfleiit political tlioiic-ht and intelligent critieism, and 
he satisfied the demands of locality without sacrificing his convic- 
tions on national interest and the fairly balanced claims of every 
section. In the daily work of caring for the numberless inquiries, 
want.s, and applications of his people, his work was arduous and 
faithful. I remember to have read a letter from him in which he 
remarked at the close, " This is the fifty-sixth letter I have written 
to-day." Between applicants upon whose claims he had tojjass he 
tried earnestly to be fair, studied each case anxiously, lest by some 
mistake in judgment or imperfect information he might d.i injustice 
to some worthy man. Every member here knows how often this 
duty falls upon a Representative and how delicate and difficult a task 

it sometimes is. 

He satisfied his constituents — no easy task, for that Galena dis- 
trict had been accustomed to being rci)resented by men of national 
reputation. Baker, Washburne, Burchard, with whom he would be 
compared. But the people appreciated his solid qualities, his 
worth, his faithftd services. They trusted and honored him again 
and again, and when he was cut off so untimely they mourned his 
death as a personal sorrow. 

In the cemetery hard by that picturesque town of Mount Carroll, 
on a iiillside of lawn, and scattered trees, and fiiower-beds that 
lirighten graves, he was buried, and there on the spot wiiere the 
maimed soldier, his last march finished, ha.s laid down in the bivouac 
of the dead, friendly and loving care has erected a monument, high, 
massive, pure, like the stainless man who sleeps beneath, to com- 
memorate his name. Even more durable than the century-defying 
stone is the work of a true life, and this plain, earnest man whom 
we honor to-day did that work well as a citizen whose influence 
was always on the side of right, as a soldier who gave all and 
suffered much, as a public officer ever faithful, as a legislator wise 
and careful, as a Christian devout in his heart and exemplary in 
his walk before God and man until he was taken to a life beyond 
life. 



14 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF ROBERT M. A. HAWK. 



Address of Mr. Sherwin, of Illinois. 

Mr. Si>i:akki!: Death's ]>alu flag lias lu'cn planted in our midst 
many times during the last yea<-. Out from this busy arena it has 
led us once, twice, thrice, yes, nuiny times, and shown us glimpses 
of the endless hereiifter and beyond. Its somber folds float over us 
at this hour. It emphasizes the perishableness of human life. It 
suggests the littleness and futility of ambition. We are ready to 
exclaim as we sit in its shadow, " How frail we are!" 

Ijast Wednesday this House honored itself in honoring the 
memorv of Mr. Orth. Saturday last it pronounced its eulou-ies 
upon ^Ir. Lowe, and to-day we suspend the business of the nation 
to do honor to the names and characters of two more of our as.soci- 
ates — TJpDKGiiAFF and Hawk. They were both known to us by 
their constant attendance upon the sessions of the House, by their 
careful attention to its business, by their zeal and conscientious dis- 
charge of all their public duties. 

Mr. Hawk was a man whom to know was to respect and love. 
His friends were attracted to him so strongly that tliev never fell 
away, and to-day I think of him as my friend, warm, generous, and 
true. I cainiot think of him as a member of this House alone — 
his position is lost in the contemplation of his social qualities. 

I never saw Mr. Hawk until we met here at the first .session of 
the Forty -sixth Congress. He re{)resented that district so long 
ably represented here by Mr. E. B. Washburne, and afterward by 
the distinguished gentleman, the present Director of the Mint. The 
home of (Jeneral Grant and others distinguished in military and 
civil life were in his district and in the county adjoining the()iie in 
which he resided. That district romprises one of the most intelli- 
gent and ])ros])erous commmn'tics in Illinois or the whole land. It 
is filled with churches, .schools, and ])ul)lic libraries. It contains 
many prosperous towns and its agricultural resources are without 
limit. 

It was in such a country, among such a people, near the banks 
of the Father of Waters, that Mr. Hawk grew up to manhood and 



ADDRESS OF MR. SBERWIN, OF ILLINOIS. 15 

resided until his death. He was born in the State of Indiana, of 
parents who were originally from Virginia, but removed to Illinois 
when Mr. Hawk was but a mere lad. He was brouglit up upon 
his father's farm in Carroll County, and received his education in 
the common schools of the neighborhood and at Eureka College, 
where he took a partial course. His education was not completed 
when the war broke out. In common with the tens of thousands 
of stalwart young men of the country, he leit all to follow the flag. 
His was not the wild impulse of blind, unthinking enthusiasm, but 
the cool, earnest deliberation of a young j)atriot who had mastered 
the history of his country, wlu> believed tiiat the hopes of tlie world 
were bound up witli our Constitution and our laws, and that it was 
a duty which every man owed to such a country t(j be ready to die 
for it when the time should come. He laid aside his books, he 
surrendered his plans of life, and stepped into the ranks as a pri- 
vate soldier, saying, " Ask of ma what thou wilt and I will dare." 

He rose to the rank of captain in his regiment, the Ninety-sixth 
Illinois, and was frequently in command of a battalion and in- 
trusted with the execution of movements which required great vigor 
and sagacity as well as bravery, and in every place he acquitted him- 
self with honor and with entire satisfaction to his superior officers. 
For these services he was brevetted a major in his regiment. He 
had gone through all the war without receiving any bodily injury 
until almost the very last day that any fighting was done, when he 
received a wound in his leg which caused its amputation. He 
sealed his country's triumph with his blood. Henceforth he was to 
go through life maimed. He accepted his fortune with manliness 
and after a long time of suffering in the hos]iital returned to his 
home. He was at once placed by the citizens of his county in the 
office of county clerk, a position which he continued to hold until 
he was elected to the Forty-sixth Congress. He was renominated 
by his party to the Forty-seventli Congress without opposition, and 
had he lived one day longer would have l)een renominated for the 
Forty-eighth Congress, as the convention iiad been called to meet 
the day after his death and the primaries had instructed for him. 

In his service here he was always governed by the highest and 



16 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF ROBERT M. A. HAWK. 

])iir('st motives. He gave all his time and nil his strength to the 
jH'i'fiirniance of ln"s (Inties. He stndied {\w questions before tiie 
House witii eonscientions care, and having formed liis judgments 
followed tlieui implicity. He never posed foreffeet. He was sin- 
ecure in all his aets and thoughts — a liater of eant and pretense. In 
all matters affecting the pensioners of the Oovermuent he took a 
great interest. His sympathies for those disabled in the service of 
tlie country were active and constant, and yet restrained by moder- 
ation. He was indefatigable in the performance of all his r)ej)art- 
ment duties. No labor was too great which seemed to be demanded 
by his constituents. The most trivial matters.of this character were 
attended to with the same care bestowed upon the more important. 
Mr. Hawk did not escape detraction. Although he was a man 
of the highest motives and most honorable in all his intercourse 
with men, he was assaulted by slander and defamation of the most 
violent kind , but he overcame his assailants and his triumph was 
assured. No one can fully know, Mr. Speaker, how much he suf- 
fered from these assaults. He was extremely sensitive, and such 
charges caused him more pain tlian the gunshots of an enemy ; but 
his sufferings were buried in his own bosom and were only known 
as they were accidentally revealed. Political life was not pleiisaut 
to him. He intended to retire from it at the close of his third 
term and devote himself to the education of his family and the en- 
joyment of his home. All the pi'ide of his life was centered in that 
home. All his hopes of worldly happiness clustered around it. 
His was a Christian's life. For many years he had belonged to 
the church called Christian, and in every walk of life had followed 
its teachings consistently. He was one of the building committee of 
the Vermont Avenue Christian Church in this city. His private 
life was illuminated by Christian truth, and was as pure as a child's. 
He was devoid of all envy and selfishness, all unworthy ambition. 
I can say of him as Charles Lamb said of another : 

From all self-seeking, envy, low design, 
I have not found a whiter sonl than thine. 

We buried him at sunset in the cemetery of the village where he 
was known so well. His neighbors, for many miles in all direc- 



ADDRESS OF MB. BOSECRANS, OF CALIFORNIA. 17 

tions, came with sad and sorrowing faces to pay their tribute of tears 
to his memory. The aged grandfathers who had known him from 
liis boyhood were there. The comrades who had marched and 
fouglit with him were tlicre. The associates of his later life were 
there, and even the children of the village joined their lamentations 
with those of his nearest friends. There we lefl him, onr brother 
and onr friend, with the peace of God in all his looks. 

Let the lifeless body rest ; 
He is goue who was its guest — 
Goue, as travelers haste to leave 
All inn, nor tarry until eve. 
Traveler, in what realms afar, 
In what planet, in what star, 
In what vast aerial space. 
Shines the light upon thy face ? 
In what gardens of delight 
Rest thy weary feet to-night ? 



Address of Mr. RoseCRANS, of California. 

]\[r. Speaker: It is the office of personal friendship to speak of 
him in ids private life; of political associates to tell of him as 
he appeared among them, faithful to his convictions, generous, tol- 
erant of their opinions, firm in the maintenance of his own. 

The few words I have to speak in memory of our deceased col- 
leasiiie will be as a comrade of the Union Army and as the com- 
mander under whom he served in the Army of the Cumberland. 

An old English poet says: 

The glories of our birth and state 

Are shadows, not substantial things. 
There is no armor against fate; 
Death lays his icy hand on kings; 
Scepter and crown 
Must tumble down 
And in the dust be equal made 
With the poor crooked scythe and spade. 



0174- 



18 LIFE AND CIIAHACTEl! OF ROHEIIT M. A. HAWK. 

Tho garlands wither on y"nr briiw ; 

Tlien l)(iant no morn yonr luiijlity dcpils; 
l^jion ileatli's pnrjile altar now 

See wlicrc, the victor yii-tini KUmiIsI 
All heads inuNt come 
To the cold tomb ; 
Only the actions of the just 
Smell sweet and blossom in the dnst. 

But what tliis poet says of tlic Icveler Death is iiicasiiralilv true 
of all frruat and transci'iideiit luiiiian interests, in comparison with 
which thos(! of the individual dwarf into insignificance. Such a 
transcendent fact was the war for the maintenance of tlie unity of 
this nation, in the presence of which the soldier and the officer, the 
private and the general became comrades in the coniinon cause. 

The nuises of poetry and of history, imparting tlieir lessons by 
instance, example, impress all our minds with the idea that heroism 
is a natural endowment and inheres in the person of the hero. But 
whoever will reflect on his own experience of wdiat impresses him 
and comj>are it with what he knows of t)thers and of heroes in his- 
tory will find that true herosim lies in domination over ordinary hu- 
man motives on account of something believed to be greater and bet- 
ter. 

The degree of the heroism depends on the extent to which the ac- 
tion overj)asses and dominates ordinary motives, interest, and j>as- 
sions, and the greatness of the object for which these sacrifices are 
made. 

Mankind finds sometliing heroic in the endurance of labor and 
of suffering, even for future personal advantage and renown, but 
a still higher degree of it when that endurance and lai)or are for 
the good of others or for the love of truth in science or in art. 

Greater still do we regard the heroism of him wiio perils life to 
save the lives of others. 

M'hcn the storm lio\vls over the face of the ocean ; when the 
fierce waves, like devouring demons, assault the passenger-laden 
ship off some inlios])ital)le coast ; when they breach the walls whitJi 
protect the lives of all on board, whose heart does not beat with 
a<iiiiiration to see the (i'ail life-saving i)oat and crew start through 



ADDRESS OF Ml! liOSECEAyS, OF CALIFORNIA. 19 

the storm and waves into the jaws of" death to save imperiled pas- 
sengers and crew ? 

But if such heroic acts command unreserved admiration, what 
measure of it shall be given to those men who, unskilled and un- 
trained to arms, went to save our ship of state from wreck, and all 
the hopes it bore — the hopes of fifty millions of people, tlie hopes 
of their posterity for unborn generations, and of the liberty-seek- 
ing millions of all the world for all coming time — staked on the 
success of this great and peculiar experiment to <lemonstrate the 
practical)ility of self-government in the world. 

In the presence of a work so great all minor iu'roisiiis dwindle 
into insignificance, and all actors in it, whether of loftv or of hnm- 
ble rank, become comrades in the grand army engaged in a com- 
mon cause of such immeasurable grandeur. 

In this sense our deceased colleague and I were comrades. 
Young, tall, handsome, of a noble, generous nature, he early re- 
sponded to his country's call fijr defenders, and while with me had 
become a captain in the Ninety-second Illinois Volunteer Infantry, 
in the Army of the Cumberland, and rendered arduous, brave, gal- 
lant, and effective service, the details of wliicli arc told l)y others. 
He was on courier duty witli his command during the cniiipaign of 
Chattanooga, and at my headquarters during the bloody but to us 
u'lorious tichl of Chickamausia, which stemmed the hostile tide 
and gave us Chattan(Wga, the objective of our campaign. He did 
his duty nobly at the head of his command ; was with me at the 
])oint and moment of supreme danger in the battle. More words 
might be said, but could higher eulogy be pronounced on him or 
on any of all the brave men who served in such a cause? God 
bless them, each and all ! Living may they be honored and 
blessed by all who live beneath the fiag, and dying be regretted as 
he is regretted ox'er whose death we are now expressing our sor- 
rowful respect. 



20 LIFE AND CHARACTEH OF ROliERT M. A. HAWK. 



Address of Mr. Henderson, of Illinois. 

Mr. Speaker: I regret that I am not better pi-e])ared to speak 
of the life and character of my late friend and colleagne, Major 
lloBEKT M. A. Hawk, than I am to-day. I had met Major Hawk 
hefore he was elected a member of this body, and had a somewhat 
slight but pleasant acquaintance with him; but I was not then and 
am not now familiar with his early history, and will therefore not 
attempt to speak of his early life further than to say that he was a 
native of Hancock County, in the State of Indiana, and emigrated 
with his father's fSiinily at an eai'ly age to Carroll County, in the 
State of Illinois, in which last State he M'as educated at Eureka 
College. 

Major Hawk was a soldier in the late war. When twenty-three 
years of age he enlisted as a volunteer, and on the 4th day of Sep- 
tember, 1802, was nuistered into the service of the United States 
as a first lieutenant in tiie Ninety-.second Regiment of Illinois \'ol- 
unteer Infantry, in which capacity he served until the 23d day ol' 
March, 1863, when he was promoted to the office of cuptain, and 
served as such until the 21st day of June, 18G5, at which time, 
having served nearly three years, he was mustered out of the serv- 
ice. Of the conduct of Major Hawk while in the service as an 
officer and soldier I have no personal knowledge. 1 know he was 
wounde<l in an engagement with the enemy neyr Raleigh, North 
Carolina, on the 10th day of April, 1865, from which wound he 
lost his right leg, and that he was brevetted a major for soldierly 
eiindnet on that occasion. 

I know also that everv pulsation of his heart beat with ])Mti-iotie 
devt)ti(jn for his country ; that he loved this great Republic with a 
love as deep and strong as the love of his own life, which he periled 
for its preservation and ])er])etuation ; and from his re])utation and 
my knowledge now of his character I have no hesitation in saying 
that he was during his service a brave, faithful, an<l efficient officer 
and soldi<'r. 



ADDRESS OF Mli. HENDKllSON, OF ILLINOIS. 21 

On liis return from tlic Army to civil life Major Hawk was 
elected clerk of the county court of Carroll County, where he had 
lived from boyhood. In that office he served the people so accepta- 
bly and with such fidelity and ability that he was three times suc- 
cessively re-elected, and he held the office until in 1878, when he 
was nominated and elected a member of the Forty-sixth Congress 
from tlie fifth Congressional district of Illinois. Having been 
re-elected in 1880 as a member of the Forty -seventh Congress, he 
held a seat in tliis body from the 4th day of March, 1879, until 
his death, wliich occurred in this city, after a very brief illness, on 
the 29th day of June, 1882. 

As a Representative in Congress Major Hawk won not only 
the sympathy but the respect and confidence of his associates and 
fellow-members. On his entrance here as a member of this body 
he was an inexperienced legislator. But feeling the full force of 
the responsibilities resting upon him, he at once addressed himself 
to his public duties with an earnest desire to discharge them intel- 
ligently and faitiifully. And those of us, Mr. Speaker, who served 
with him and wlio knew him during his service in Congress will 
well remember how punctually he took his seat, and how faithfully 
he observed the proceedings of the House during its sessions. 

As his colleague and friend I wan brought in almost daily asso- 
ciation with Major Hawk, and I can bear testimony to the con- 
scientious, able, and faithful manner in which he served his con- 
stituents and the country. He was an honorable, upright, useful 
member of this Hou.se, and during all his service here he brought 
no reproach upon his good name, nor did he bring any upon his 
constituents who had honored him with their confidence. 

The death of Major Hawk, Mr. Speaker, was so sudden and 
unexpected as to be a shock to us all. He had but just returned 
from a contest in the new district in whit'h lie had been i>ia< ad by 
the legislature of our State. And having carried every pnunty in 
the district, and being assured of a nomination and electim as a 
member of the Forty-eighth Congress, he was in good spirits and 
looking remarkably well. But surely Death hath all seasons for 
his own. And in the flush of a great triumph, and after an illness 



22 i.u'K AMI rn.m.H ri:n of hobeut m. a. hawk. 

(if liiit ;i lew liiiiirs, iIimI inililc, manly (iirni, tlial sti'diig, robiisl 
man, was silent in (Icatli. And the li<'arts (if all of lis who had 
seen liini from (^hiv to day as lie canu' into and went ont of this 
Hall were tilled with sorrow. 

Mr. S])eal<er, Major Hawk was a high-minded and honoralile 
man. lie had a nolile, manly, jrenerous nature. He was jnst and 
true in all the relations of life ; and in liis death we have lost a 
fiiithful Re|)rt'sentative, and tlie eountry a g(xid citizen and a .ster- 
ling patriot. 

Adciress of Mr. Carpenter, of Iowa. 

Mr. Spkakku: Major Robert M. A. Hawk was oneof natur-e'.s 
noblemen. He was a large-framed, large-hrained, large-hearted 
man. In |)eaee he was a patriotic, public-sjiirited citizen ; in war 
he was an intrepid, self-denying .soldier. He illustrated in his pri- 
vate lite and in his public career the best type of American man- 
hood. It was my good fortune to know him well, and I hope I 
am the better man for having known him. On coming to Wash- 
ington as a new member at the ojieniug of the extra session of the 
Forty-sixth Congress it so happened that I made my home at the 
same house with Major Hawk. I soon made his ac(piaintance, and 
very s(jon came to appreciate his wdrth. At the close of the daily 
.sessions I would frecpiently linger and walk with him to the horse- 
cars on the way to our temporary home. As he had lost a leg at 
the battle of Bentonville, and as the amputation had left but a short 
stump, and of a character that would never admit of his wearing a 
cork leg, he neces.sarily in walking carried a cane in one hand, and 
in the other a sort of substitute for the missing limb imj)rovised 
for his special use, and which had to be held constantly to its place. 
This employment of both hands, added to the disadvantage of his 
large physical frame, rendered walking to him a slow and difficult 
proce.ss. He frequently, therefore, in the delicate sensibility of his 
nature!, more than half remonstrated with me for lingering after 
the day's adjournment to keep him company to our home. 

But as I turned the conversation upon .some other subject and 



ADDRESS OF Mli. CAIiPENTER, OF IOWA. 23 

walko.1 alons with l.i.n,on .no.v tliixn one occasi.,,., \ni\w abandon 
offnniilinr c.uversation, he opened to .ne the windows of his soul 
s„ tliat I think I can estimate the unselHshness, the generosity, and 
th<. puritv of the man. We talked of the war, of its .nei.lents, of 
the men of that stirrin- period, and of the men and measures of to- 
day I have said that I hoped I was the better man for my short 
association with him. His example was more than a sermon. 
Notwithstanding he had been sadly maimed in the service ot his 
country and knew that all the residue of his days, whether few or 
many must be clouded with his painful loss, yet I never heard him 
speak an unkind word of man ..r men or utter a syllable of regret 
for any service he had made in the line of a patriot's duty. 

No more than a fortnight before his d^ath, while riding at his 
side from the Capitol, the death of Major Farr, of New Hampshire 
(who had lost an arm in the war), was mentioned, when he remarked 
that the men who had the misfortune to lose limbs in the great re- 
bellion were fast passing away. And he went on to say that it hart 
been estimated that persons thus wounded did not, on an average, 
live to be more than from 40 to 45 years old; and then he said 
with a tinge of sadness in his voice, that the Great Harvester would 
doubtless reach out his sickle for him before many years. It was 
„„t more than two or three weeks after .^his conversation that, upon 
returningto my rooms after aday spent at the Capitol, my wife saidto 
me " Do you know that Major Hawk is sick ? " I replied that I 
di<l not ; and I thought it hardly possible, as I had seen liim but 
tin. evening before, and he had seemed in perfect health. J5ut she 
^ai.l " He was taken sick this morning, and the doctor has called 
to see him two or three times during the day, and seems to be con- 
cerned about him." I went immediately to his room, and taking 
him by the hand, said, "Major, I have just learned that you were 
sick."* He replied, falteringly, " Carpenter, I am very sick. _ 

In a moment he signified by a sign that he wanted to l)c raised 
np The doctor and attending friend raised him upright, and pil- 
lows were disposed so that he could recline upon them ; but this 
had scarcely been done before he wanted them removed, and after 
lying down" was for a moment in great agony ; then said : " If I 
was turned upon my side I believe I could go t.. sleep." At the 



24 LIFE AND CHARACTEIl OF HOKF.IiT M. A. HAWK. 

request <it'llii' (Inctcir the gcntlciiian wIki li;i<l heeii with liim (hiriiij; 
the day ran f'pr another pliysician, and 1 hastened to another part 
of tlie lioiise for a restorative ; was hack in two minutes, but in 
less tlian five minutes from my return, and lieforc; tlie eonsuUing 
jihysieian lia<l arrived, ail was over. 

Tlius ended the eartldy existence of Major Hawk. He wa.s in 
the prime of life, if we count life by its years ; but counting it by 
what lie had done for his country, his family, and the world, he 
had lived longer than many of us who survive him. The very 
day after his death a convention assend)led in his district to nomi- 
nate a candidate for the Forty-eightli Congress. If I remembei- 
rightly every delegation had been instructed for Major Hawk ex- 
cc[)t from a single county. So he died at the high-noon of life and 
on the field of tnumj)h. He die<l mourned by a grateful constit- 
uency, and by comrades who had touched elbows with him where 
heroes stood shoulder to shoulder. J cannot better cmjiluisize his 
military history than by making one or two brief extracts from let- 
ters written by officers of his regiment. First, from his command- 
ing officer. He says : 

R. M. A. Hawk enlisted as a private at Lanark, Illinois, in Angust, 1862, 
and was elected a seeiind lientenaut, and mustered as sncli Septenilier 4, is(i2, 
tlie company becon ing Company C, Ninetyseeoud Illinois Infantry. 

He was promoted to a {aptainey at Danville, Kentneky, Jannary 21, 18H3, 
and served with that rank nntil the close of the war, always on dnty, willing;, 
painstaking, intelligent; cool and- conrageons in the performance of every 
dnty, in camp, uiion the march, and npon tlie battle-tield ; endearing himself 
by his manly, noble, and soldierly iinalities to his commanding oHieers, his 
associates, and the men under his command. As his immediate commanding 
otticer, I soon learned to lely upon him with Implicit confidence that ripened 
into personal friendship ; and I often gave him comuiauds ou special occa- 
sions when I required an officer of his rank at important outposts or for dan- 
gerous scouting duty. He was so modest that he always di.strnsti'd his own 
ability, never seeking any sjiccial commands, but was so true and faithful 
that I often imposed upon him dangerous duties out of his turn. And he met 
every dnty with ijuiet dignity and admirable courage and judgment ; faithful 
and steadfast as was possible for the; bravest soldier. 

From the letter of another officer of his regiment I venture to 
pluck oik; or two laurel wreaths to decorate his new-made grave. 



ADDRESS OF MR. CARPENTER, OF IOWA. 25 

After speaking of liis personal wjrrow npon learning of his death, 
he .says : 

I first met Major Hawk at Cainj) Fuller, Riicklnid. His tine piMwmal ap- 
pearaiiie on diess-paiaile attraiti'il my atd'iitioii. In bcifilit over six feet, 
straijxht as an arrow, and clad in his liriglit nnit'iirm of bine, lie loolved every 
incli tlie grand soldier he afterward became. 

The writer then relates the fact that they became friends ; and 
for three years, on the march, in the bivonac, antl in the terrible 
iirdcal of battle, whenever and wherever tested, the manliness of 
his natnre and the strength of his character became more and more 
apparent. 

Finally, when the last fiery trial of his military life came to him, 
this officer stood by his side. I will relate it in his own words : 

When he fell so terribly wonnded in our last battle, an armistice occiirriii}!; 
between the two armies, I followed him to Raleigh, North Carolina, and stoorj 
by him dnriug his terrible suffering. The surgeons when about to amputate 
his limb tohl him he might not survive the operation, and if he wished to say 
anything be had better do so. He then looked up at me and said : "Major, I 
wish to whisper to you." I drew close beside liis concli, leaned over my head, 
and i e whispered in my ear these words : " If I die, tell my folks at home I 
was proud to give my life for my country ; I was proud to die for the old flag. 
And then should they ask about my spiritual welfare, say to them that deal li 
had no terrors for me ; that I was prepared to die." He then looked at the 
surgeons and spoke to them as calmly and coolly as when on dress-parade, 
saying: " Gentlemen, proceed ; I am ready." 

' Such was Maj(5r Hawk as a citizen soldier. Wiiat he was as a 
Congressmtm yon, Mr. Speaker, well know. He sat so n(>ar the 
Speaker's chair tiiat when present he could not lie unob.served by 
yon ; and, sir, you seldom saw his ^at vacant. He was as faith- 
ful to the great trust which the people of the fifth district of Illi- 
nois had imposed upon him as he was to his duty when on picket 
in the forests of Georgia, under regulations that affixed the pen- 
alty of death to the crime of sleeping on his post. But I need not 
enlarge. We all know with what discriminating judgmentand con- 
scientious fidelity he discharged his duties here. 

He, however, w:is more than a soldier, he was more than a clerk 
of courts, he was more than a Congressman ; in every element of 
his nature he was a man. He was an honest, sincere, clean-handed, 



26 i/ffi AND CHAUAlTKi; OF l!l)Hi:i!T M. A. HAWK. 

white-soiiled citizen, lie \v:is :i kind ;inil (ii)lij;int;- ncijililpor. Hp 
was the f'aitlifid Imslmiid of a hivinj;- wifi'. lie was I lie liciicroiis 
fathorof ad(U-in<j;cliildr('n. In the (•(ini|)aMiiinslii|) of Ids housclinld 
In- was tlic cfjiial, tli(> friend, and the confidant of every nicnd)er of 
ins fannly, from tlie will- to the H\c-year-ohl liov that ran lan<i;liing 
to meet him as lie retnrned from Ids daiix- duties. Xoed I sav mori!? 
If tlicre 1)0 life beyond the urav*', and character liorc is an earnest 
of character and condition there, then those who knew Hohpirt M. 
A. Hawk need no assurance tliat wlien lie ste]>ped from this hall 
into the shadowy realm the door swnnjj; wide n|ion its hinjres for 
his admission to a mansion not made with hands. 



Address of Mr. Curtin, of Pennsylvania. 

Mr. Si'KAKEK: The story of the life of onrdead cojicagnc has heen 
faithfully told, and in the few remarks I have to make 1 shall not 
attempt to repeat it. 

I learned to know Major Hawk early on my first entrance into 
this Hall as a memher and knew him well and was honored by his 
frieixlship. It woidd l)e false to his memory if I were to attempt 
to exalt him into a t;reat orator or statesman or philosopher. Much 
better and more usefid in all the avocations of life, he wa.s an honest, 
]>nre-nundcd, upright man of broad common sense and gentle, kind 
nature. 

I am (|uite sure it is proper for me to refer to one circumstance 
in hisofiicial conduct which illustrates his unselfishness and his deli- 
ciite estimate of propriety when he had a personal interest in the 
result of his action, ^\'llen the committee of which I was a mem- 
ber had under consideration the bill introduced into this House, 
and to the honor of its mendicrs ]>assed unanimously, to give a pen- 
sion of ^40 a month to those who had lost an arm or a leg in the 
military service in the late uidiappy civil war Major Hawk refused 
to vote. I tried to persuade him that he was (pdte too sensitive; 
but, offering as a reason that it would add to his income $200 a 
yejir, he refused. And that bill was carried through the committee 
and reported to this House iu his absence. 



ADDIiESS OF MR. CURTIN, OF rFNXSTLrANIA. 27 

It was a pleasant exliiliitioii licre, wliicli \vc have ji;st liad g;iveii 
ns [referring to the remarks of Mr. Wliceler] from a gaUant soldier 
below the line, who has just paid a tribute so beautiful and truth- 
ful to the memory of our late eolloagne, supplemented by the eulogy 
of his commander (General Rosecrans), soldiers who were enemies 
and now in friendship paying the homage of respect soldiers justly 
feci for tiic martial virtues. The history of liis life and his services, 
the exhibition of the purity of his clunacter is crcilitable to his col- 
leagues and his friends and has been fitly spoken. 

His attacliment to his family, and tiic sorrow of that home circle, 
is a subject ([uite too .sacred for the formal demonstration on this oc- 
ca.sion. . There we should not enter. God struck the husband and 
father and God will pour balsam and balm into tiie wounds he has 
inflicted on the bereaved family, aud n(ithing that can be said here 
can in the least relieve their deep sorrow. 

It is for mortal man to die, as we have been frecpiently reminded 
during this Congress. It is for those who live to so discharge their 
duties, personal and relative, that when they die their memory will 
be preserved. When a good man dies there is a void in societv, 
an aching void which it seems impossible to fill. But when a man 
dies who has failed to fulfill his duties to man and his country and 
those who surrouuded him in life there is but a modicum of regret 
at his departure, aud he is soon forgotten. But whether high or 
low, whether statesman or peasatit, whether rich or poor, the man 
is to be most remembered who patiently works in his allotted sphere 
and faithfully discharges his duty. 

I found Major Hawk to be man of that kind, and this House 
])roperly honors the memory of a Representative who was honest 
and faithful and true in all the relations of life ; who had strong 
convictions and pursued them ; who had the courage to perform 
his duty and follow the right, aud well he knew what was the right. 
Over his grave, from short acquaintance with him, I desire to ex- 
press sorrow at his death and gratitication that his memory is to 
be embalmed, as we are told, in the conuuunity where he lived and 
by a constituency he faithfully served on this floor. 

I say that wc iiave been called often in this Congress to mourn 
the dead taken from this Chamber, so manvdurinir these short two 



28 I'IFE AND CHARACTER OF ROBERT M. A. HAWK. 

ywirs, moil of loii^, uset'iil, |>ul)lic service, ami souk; wlio liati 
scarcely rojiched the meridian of life. Wiio <-aii tell wlieii the por- 
tals of this Hall shall afjain open to the great destroyer wiio mav 
enter and seize another victim '! Who knows who that victim will 
he, whether old or yonn<i;, whom we may be called n])on af;;ain to 
mourn and pay these formal fitting ceremonies? When tiiat time 
shall come I trust that over the dead body of another member of 
this House it may be said, he died an honest man, the noblest work 
of God, a sentiment never t )!(] to be repeated. 

Mr. Speaker, all humanity is made of one family — the living 
and the dead. Those who go before us shed their benetiictions 
upon us by their good works. If they have worked patiently in 
their allotment, if they have dischargetHheir duties, personal and 
relative, if they have dealt honestly with their fellow-men, if they 
have sustained and supported the (Tovernment of their country as 
did our dead eolleagne in its dark iiours of distress and necessity, 
and have acknowledged their allegiance to Almighty God, they will 
siied tlieir benefactions upon us. 

When we have filled our allotted time and the destroyer comes 
to us, may-it be said that we have so discharged our duties that 
when we are gone we will leave something that posterity may imi- 
tate. That is all of life ; it is all of death ; it is all of humanity. 
Well did Major Haavk fulfill his duties and leave to his family 
the priceless legacy of a useful and blameless life. 

I render this brief tribute to his memory ; a generous, kind- 
hearted, upright man. He was maimed in the service of his coiui- 
try and day and night he suffered constant pain, which he bore 
with the fortitude of a soldier and resignation of a Christian. To 
his memory as a soldier, as a member of this House, and higher 
and holier emotion of the heart, to his memory I yield the hom- 
age of my respect, because he was my friend. 



ADDRESS OF MR. WHEELER, OF ALABAMA. 29 



Address of Mr. Wheeler, of Alabama. 

"The boast of heraldry, the pomps of power, 

Ai)il all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, 
Await alike the inevitable hour. 
The pa,ths of glory lead but to the grave." 

"People of Illinois, allow ine to plant the rose and the laurel upon the grave 
of your departed dead." 

Mr. Speaker: When a few lioiirs ago I was honored by the gen- 
tlemen of the Illinois delegation with an invitation to pai-ticipate 
in these mournful ceremonies I felt emliarrassed, for the reason that 
I apprehended that without ])reparatit>n I would he unequal to the 
task. This reflection inspired me with reluctance to assume so 
prominent an attitude. But when I recalled the sliock which 1 
felt when I heard of the death of our lamented friend, and the 
circumstance.s under which I made his acquaintance, which though 
brief was of the most pleasant character, I could not hesitate in 
my reply. 

In December, 1881, when the Forty-seventh Congress assembled 
in this hall, a manly, commanding form could be seen in the row 
of seats directly in front of the Speaker's desk. There was mucli 
in his a])pearance to attract attention. P]ver at his post of duty, 
he carried with iiini a sad reminder of the past whicii he could not 
(•(jnccal — the evidence of heroic service, the badge of honor won on 
the field of battle. 

But now we miss him in his wonted place, 
And search iu vain for that congenial face. 

Mr. Speaker, there is an overwhelming sadness in the contempla- 
tion of the image of a dead friend, whom we can see in all the viv- 
idness of reality, as he lived and moved in our midst, while we 
know certainly that he has gone away i'roiii us forever, that we 
shall meet him never again upon this earth. But in the language 
of the sacred writer — • 

"Man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets." 



30 r.lFE AND CHARACTEI! OF IlOHF.llT M. A. hAWE. 

And in tlu'sc timcliint;' linrs we ;irc rcniindcl tliat ndwliciv is 
tlii'i'c ('.\cni])ti(in t'nmi tlic incvit;il)l(' decnr : 

"There is no Hock, however H-:it(licil .-niil li'iiili-d. 
But one deiul hinih is tlicre ; 
There is no fireside, howsoe'er defended, 
But has one vacant chair.'' 

By tlio providence of (iod it is so ordered that time oradnallv 
llirows tiie veil of" ol)livioii over nielaneiioly memories, \vl)ile it 
o|iens np in dewy freshness all the jnyons ivcol led ions of tht' past. 
So the wounded soldier whose virtues weeommeniorate to-dav, for- 
iii'ttini;- the glooiuy sutierinj>;s and agonies of war, cherished only 
the flower-crowned memories of the mareii, the liivonae, and tiie 
l)attle. 

I hold in my hand a liistory of the reginieut in which Major 
Hawk was one of the hiuhcst officers, and certainly one of its 
leading spirits. My hui-ried perusal of this volume slio\\s that 
our late com])eer was one of tiie hrave men who led the front in 
that almost continuous hattle from the Ohio through Kentuekv, 
from the Cumberland through Tennessee, and from the Tennessee 
througli (ire()rgia to the Atlantic ()cean. 

With the gallaut Hosecrans he breasted the storm of death at 
Murfreesborough and under the same intrepid eommander led the 
van in the historic conflict at Chickamauga. 

His troo]>s were ])art of the surging line which charged with 
such desperation on that bright sunny morning at Kenesaw. 

He was in the terrii>le onslanght at Atlanta, and in the leading 
colnnui in the march preceding the battle at .lonesborough. In 
that engagement he fought with unusual bravery, and in the march 
to the sea, fighting at every step, he earned the comincndalion of 
(iencral Sherman, his <listiuguished commander. 

At Macon, Buckheail Church, Waynesborough, Aiken, Averys- 
borough, and on hundreds of other fields, towered the |)ortly form 
of him who was so lati'ly with us in this hall ; anil with the sound 
oi victorv ujion his ears he tl'll wounded in one ot the last battles 
ot his gallant chieftain, the pi'cs<'nt I louoi'cd com maiu lei' of our -Vrmv. 

Much that 1 read in this work I hcarcl from Major IIawk's 



ADDRESS OF Mli. WHEELER, OF ALABAMA. 31 

own lips, wlio, on our first meeting, spoke of me as one who Iiad 
often been very near him during the conflicts to vvhicii I have re- 
ferred — on opposite sides, of course, but still near each other on 
American iields of battle — and this very fact seemed to awaken our 
mutual sympathies and tended gently but surely to draw us togetiier 
into cordial relations. 

I^et no man doubt the real cause of this almost instantaneous 
cordiality. It is this : We had in fact never been enemies. The 
word enemy is not the word to use in reference to our differences 
of position. We had simply been arrayed in opposing- attitudes. 
Between the individual people of the North and the South there 
was no real enmity. Let the historian, the philospher, the states- 
man, while he pauses with amazement and admiration, as he con- 
templates these great lately-contending hosts laving down their 
arms and assuming so readily and even gracefully the most friendly 
relations, find his answer here : There had been no real emnitv 
between these warring peoples. 

Our war has no parallel in military literature. It is unlike all 
other wars in many of its leading features. 

The most sanguinary of the English wars comes down to us in 
history under the softest and sweetest of names. It is called the 
War of the Roses. Under that gentle and poetic designation lie 
concealed the hideous features of a strife the most ferocious of any 
in the annals of modern warfare, waged as it was by brothers and 
kinsmen. It was, nevertheless, so wholly unlike our war that the 
distinguishing characteristics of the two may be profitably con- 
tem])lated, contrasted, and studied. 

That too, it is true, was a ciyil war, a war rendered the more 
teri-ific by tiie personal hostility of the cond)atauts, for into that 
war entered all the fiercer and darker jiassions of the human heart, 
envy, jealousy, hatred, malevolence, malignity, and revenge, the 
most aspiring pretensions and the most inordinate ambitions, all 
prompted and urged by the tamily |)ride of the nobility and the 
autocratic prerogatives of royalty. 

It was a war waged for nobility, the nobility of ])ersons where 
titles and place, manors and earldoms, crowns and kingdoms were 
the stakes; where the result was the tyrainiieal dominance of family 



32 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF ROBERT M. A. HAWK. 

on the one side and individual extermination on the otiier. While 
titles and crowns awaited the vietors, the frowning executioner 
stood hard by with his keen ax, eager and anxious to chop off' the 
heads of the vanquished. 

Tjct us contrast this ])i('tiire of war for a single moment with this 
more recent one of ours. 

Our civil war, while it was one (jf the most sanguinary and terrific 
that ever employed the arm of the soldier or engaged the ])en of 
tlic historian, was at the same time one of tlie most singular and 
remarkable ever recorded, in this one distinctive charactei'istic: 
that as between the soldiers who nief and fouaiit each othci' so 
desperately there was not and never had i)een,an<I trom tlie nature 
of things never (^oidd be, any individual personal hostility, none 
of that despicable feeling known as hatred. No revenge, no ambi- 
tion, no malice, no blood-thirstiness. Tiiey had marched and 
fought and triumphed under tiie same flag for nearly a centuiy. 
They had seen their population grow from three to forty millions, 
and their territories expand trom ocean to (K«an. Htuice, this war 
of ours did not arouse nor engage nor stir up the dark and fierce 
passions of the human heai't. We met and fought, not in a spirit 
of ani>;er, but in the fulfillment of dntv. 

It was a war built upon abstractions; not made nor sought nor 
wisheil for by the people at large, but rendered incvitai)le by ex- 
traordinary circumstances and by the irreconcilable conflict of 
opinions. Hence, when this people met each other face to fae« as 
foes in war they were amazed, perplexed, and confounded at the 
most unnatural aspect, and felt in tlieir hearts more reluctance tlian 
hostility, moiv regret than revenji-e, more sorrow than ansrer. 

Jn such a war the savage instincts of ferocity could have no 
place, and hence upon the close of such a war there could Im; no 
revenges to gratify. Hence, also, the instantaneous national recon- 
ciliation which so puzzles mankind in tlu' outside world is imt tlic 
natural result of the reunion of that sentiment (broken but for a 
moment) which is the real characteristics of American civilization, 
that is, the design to work out the problem of human liberty and 
to establish tlu' rights of man by the unity of labor, the luiily ol' 
mind, and the union of the States. 



ADDKESS of air. wheeler, of ALABAMA. 33 

People of Illinois, allow nu' to plant the rose and the laurel ujxin 
the grave of your departed hero, a soldier brave and determined in 
war, a citizen loved and respected by all who knew him, and a 
servant to his people, faithful to every duty. Paladin of an hun- 
dred battles, yet the pride and jwinp and triumjjhs of \\ar had no^ 
so carried him away as to make him lose sight of the hund)ler call- 
ings of good citizenship; and consequently we see in iiis career in 
civil life the same unerring integrity tliat carried him successfully 
through the war marking Ids demeanor as the industrious official,- 
ever at the post of labor, thus commanding confidence and trust 
and assuring success amid the plaudits of his fellow-citizens, emi- 
nently exemplifying Pope's often quoted but most true words : 

Houor aud shame from no condition rise; 
Ai't well your part, there all the honor lies. 

The Speaker. The question is upon the adoption of the resolu- 
tions which have been submitted. 

The resolutions were adopted unanimously; and accordingly the 
House adjourned. 

0174 3 



PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE. 



In the Senate, June 30, 1882. 

A nies.-;age from the House of Representatives, by Mr. MePher- 
son, its Clerk, communicated to the Senate the intelligence of the 
deatli of Hon. Robert M. A. Hawk, late a member of the House 
from the State of Illinois, and transmitted the resolutions of the 
House thereon. 

The President jjro tempore. The Chair lays before the Senate 
the resolutions of the House of Representatives, which will be read. 

The resolutions were read, as follows : 

Resolved, That the House has heard with sincere regret the announcement 
of the death of Hon. Robert M. A. Hawk, late a Eepreseutative from the 
State of Illinois. 

Resolved by the House of Bepresentatives (the Senate concurring herein), That a 
special joint committee of seven members of the House and three members of 
the Senate be appointed to take order for superintending the funeral, and to 
escort the remains of the deceased to their last resting-place, and that all 
necessary expenses attending the execution of this order shall be paid out of 
the contingent fund of the House. 

Resolved, That the Cleric of the House communicate the foregoing resolu- 
tions to the Senate. 

Resolved, That, as a mark of respect to the memory of the deceased, the 
House do now adjourn. 

Ordered, That Mr. George R. Davis, Mr. L. E. Payson, Mr. S. W. Moulton, 
Mr. W. H. Calkins, Mr. G. C. Cabell, Mr. J. A. McKenzie, and Mr. W. Cullen 
be members on the part of the House. 

Mr. Logan. Mr. President, I oifer the following resolutions : 
Resolved, That the Senate has received with profound sensibility the mes- 
sage of the House of Representatives announcing the death of Hon. Robert 
M. A. Hawk, a Representative from the State of Illinois. 

Resolved, That the Senate concur in the resolutions adopted by the House 
of Representatives, and that the President y)ro tempore of the Senate appoint 
three Senators to escort the remains of the deceased in conjunction witli tlie 
committee on the part of the House, as j)rovided in said resolutions. 

:{.'■> 



36 I'lFK AND CUAllACTKR UF KUItKUT M. .1. lIAWIi. 

Tlio I'liKsrDF.NT ^)/v» fciiiporr. Tlio (|iiesti()ii is mi tlic luloptioii of 
tlic resohitiuiis. [I'liltiiij;' tli('(|ii('sti()ii.] Tlu! resolutions arc uiiaii- 
iiiKiiisiv adojilcd. Tlic ( 'hair appnints ilic Seiiatoi- I'roiii liiiuois 
[Mr. Lofiaii], tiic Senator from Iowa [Mr. McDill], and tlie Sen- 
ator froiu Mississip])! [Mr. George], as the eoniniittee on the ]iart 
of tl)e Senate. 

Mr. Logan Out of respect to tlir mrniory of'tiic deceased liep- 
resentativc, I move tliat tlie Senate do now adjourn. 

Tlie motion was agreed to; and tiie Senate adjourned. 



In the Senate, Fcbvuayy b, 1 .'^8;^. 
The President ^jro tempore. The Chair lays before tlie Senate 
resolutions of the House of Representatives, which m ill l>c read. 
The Acting Secretary read as follows : 

UcHolred, That fliia House has heard with profound regret tlie announce- 
nu'iit of the death of Hon. Kobkrt >1. A. Hawk, late a nieiiiber of the House 
fidiii the State of niinois. 

Hcnolrvit, Th.at a.sa mark of respect for his memory the olllcers .mid meiiil)cis 
cif this House will wear the usual liadi;e of mourniiif; fur thirty days. 

Ilrnolvnt, That a copy of these resolutions be transmitted liy the Clerk of 
the House to the family of the deceased. 

liciolrcd, That as ,a further mark of respect the Hous(!, ,at the .•uuclusiou of 
these memorial proceedinf;s, shall adjourn. 

JicHol red , That the Clerk comniunieate these resolutions to the Senate. 

Mr. Logan. Mr. President, I offer the resolutions which T send 
to the Chair. 

The President pro tempore. The resolutions will bo rcml. 
The Acting Secretary read as follows : 

ifesoh'frf, That tho Senate has received with profound sorrow and regret 
the announcement of the death of Hon. RonERT M. A. Hawk, late a memher 
of the House of Representatives from the State of Illinois, and tenders to tho 
family and kindred of the deceased assurances of sympathy in their sad l>o- 
reavement, 

Renolved, That tho business of the Senate be now suspended that oppor- 
tunity may bo givonfor appropriate tribute to the memory of the deceased 
and to his public services and private virtues ; and that, as a further mark of 
respect, the Senate at the conclusion of such renuirks shall adjourn, 



ADDRESS OF MI!. LOV.AS, OF ILLINOIS. 37 



Address of Mr. LoGAN, of Illinois. 

Mr Pre.sident, Robert Maffitt Allison Hawk was born 
„n u farm two miles and a half east of Greenfield, Hancoek County, 
Indiana, April 23, 1839. He was the son ..f William Henry and 
Hannah' (Maffitt) Hawk. The parents were both natives of Abing- 
don, Washington County, Virginia, the mother being of Scotch- 
Irish extraction. The father was b<,rn December 2, 1809, the sou 
of Andrew and Mary (Myers) Hawk, and resided with his parents, 
workincr on a farm and obtaining sueh limited education as the 
.schools of the day afforded. While not attending school he was 
put to work at the trade of his father, that of house-jomer. In 
1836 November 10, he was united in marriage to Hannah Maffitt, 
dau.ditcr of Captain John and Isabella (Davis) Maffitt. He was 
•a captain and Indian figiit.'r in his time, as was his father, who 
was killed at the battle of the Great Kanawha. He was a man of 
infinence, a Baptist in religious l,clief, and politically a great 
admirer and follower of Thomas H. Benton. 

He removed about the year 1837 to Hancock County, Indiana, 
where Robert and his two brothers were born. Here they resided 
for about seven years, until October 30, 1843, when the mother 
die 1 leaviug three small children. The following year the father 
relieved to Freedom, Carroll County, Illinois, and married tor his 
second wife Margaret E. Davis. The three children, who had 
been left at their native home, were brought to the new home in 
1846, then quite an uninhabited place. The father carried on the 
farm, and at times worked at his trade of house-joiner. Both the 
father and .step-mother are now living in the same town in which 
they first settled in Illinois. 

Prior to the year 1856 Major Hawk had received only a com- 
mon-school education. In that year he was placed at a private 
and select school for the purpose of being prepared for college. 
While he was but 16 years old he was an instructor in a common 
school in his neighborhood. He was always favorably known 
among his playmates and classmates, being of good temper and 



38 /-//'A' IND CH.iU.KTKH OF liOBKKT M. A. HAWK. 

liaviiig ;i fine disposition, llo \\:is iiidiistrious ;in(l was a close 
student, and when not at work iipiiri the farm liis hooks were liis 
c'oraj)anioiis. 

In Septcmher, 1861, lie entered Eureka CoHege, at Kureka, 
Woodford County, Illinois ; there he remained for ahout four 
months. The late rebellion having broken out, and wliilc at 
home on a vacation from college, he enlisted in a (■<ini])aiiv wiiicii 
was beino; raised by Mr. Stoffer at ]M(junt Carroll, near his homo, 
which company became a part of the Ninety-second Illinois Regi- 
ment, at Rocktbrd, Illinois, and on the 2d of Sej)t<'ml)er of the 
same year he was selected a first lieutenant, and from that time 
continued with his company in all its marches and battles. He 
marched through Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia, 
and was made captain January 21, 1863. In July, 1863, the 
regiment was detached from Granger's Corps to Wilder's Mounted 
Infantry. 

Captain Hawk showed marked ability, activity, and courage in the 
operations of liis command at the battle of Chattanooga ; he did gal- 
lant s(;rvice also at the battles of Lookout Mountain and Chicka- 
inauga. Being at the lu-adquarters of General Rosecrans, he per- 
formed the duty of carrying disi)atches to all parts of the field of 
Chickamauga. 

He continued detached with his corupauy from his cunimand 
until the 4th of December, 1863, when he was ordered to rejoin 
his regiment. 

In the year 1864 he was with his command and was engaged in 
.several actions at Nicojack, Lovejoy, Jone.sborough, and Powder 
River. 

On November 4, 1864, the division was reorganized and the 
Ninety-second became part of the second brigade of Kilpatrick's 
cavalary. 

In what is known as " Sherman's march to tlu? sea " Captain 
Hawk's company rendered very great service as part of the rear 
guard at Waynesborough. where he was engaged in hard fighting, 
losing seveutei'U of l*is luf n He was also eng-aged in a severe action 
at or near Aiken, South Carolina, losing twenty-six men. 

On the 12th of April, 1865, following and pressing the enemy 



ADDRESS OF Ml!. t.OGAX. OF ILLINOIS. 39 

ill mairhiiig f'roin Raleigh to Swift Creek, the bridge was destroyed 
by the enemy, who held the opposite side of the creek. When the 
l)ridgo was captured the Ninety-second Regiment crossed, and Cap- 
tain Hawk and ids company were in the advance pushing the enemy 
and making a gallant figlit ag^iiust a very stubborn resistance, when 
lie fell, receiving a minie-ball, giving him a severe and almost mortal 
wound, from tiie effect of which he lost his right leg between the 
knee and hip-joint. He lay for a long time in hospital, but was at 
last taken home by his father. He was in a veiy feeble condition 
for many months. He was lirevetted major on the 10th of May, 
18(36, to rank from January 20, 1865. The greatest compliment 
that can be paid to a soldier is to say of him what I now say of 
Major Hawk, " He was a brave, intelligent, and gallant soldier." 

Wlale h'ing in bed, weak and feeble from his severe wound, he 
was married to Miss Mary G. Clark, an estimable young lady, now 
his widow, to whom he was engaged prior to entering the Army. 

In the fall of 1865 the people elected him county (4erk, also in 
18()9, 1873, and 1877, the duties of which office he performed 
during these many years with marked ability ami fidelity. On 
account of his ability and his jileasant intercourse with the people, 
in November, 1878, he was elected to the Forty-sixth Congress, and 
again to the Forty-seventh Congress, November, 1880. He became 
an earnest Republican at the breaking out of the rebellion and re- 
mained so up to his death. 

As a Representative in Congress he made an honest and faithful 
member, at fdl times doing his duty patriotically and well. Had 
he lived his career as a member of Congress would have been one 
of honor and glory. 

Major Hawk was a man beloved by all his neighbors and friends. 
He was a kind and considerate husband, and a generous and loving 
jiarent, a man of intellectual strength and good judgment, of rare 
business qualifications, calculated to be successful in whatever he 
might undertake. While here in Washington attending to his 
duties as a member of Congress, on the 29tli of June, 1882, at 812 
Twelfth street, he died suddenly of apople.xy. 

His attack Avas so sudden that few knew of his sickness. A phy- 
sician had been called in. The rooms occupied by myself being 



40 /.//■■/'; .i\D ciiAii.icTER or uoiucur m. a. hawk. 

imniodiately alxive his, I was iiotilicd of his illn&ss. Uj)()ii icpair- 
iiiir to his rooms J t'oiind iiiiii (|iiitc sici<. Tiic pliysiciaii ami sonic 
otiicr persons wci'c hy his hcdsidi'. I rcttirni'd to my room <'or some 
piirposc' or otliL'r, when, on rctnriiing- a^^ain to ids rooms, in ])rol)a- 
liiv less tiian tiirce minntcs from tlie time I left Idni, I found liim 
in a dvinii; («)ndition. 1 notified tlie ])iiysician, who was standing, 
apparently pre])arinf;: some nu'dieine, that the major was dyinir. He 
turned and looked at him apparently very much surj)rise<l. Ju.st 
at this moment Major Hawk breatlied his last. 

At his death none of his family were ])resent. I immediately 
inl()rmed them by telegraph, at the same time stating to them 
that his remains would he taken to his home. His remains were 
pro])erly eared for hy the yergeant-at-Arms of the House and friends, 
and on the next 'lay, in tiie evening, with a committee from both 
Houses of Congress, we accompanied ins remains to Mount Carroll, 
in Carndl County, Tllin(jis, and there placed them in charge of his 
loving wife, family, and friends. The immense throng that assem- 
bled there on that day to take a last look at their friend and ]{cpre- 
.sentative gave evidence of the higli esteem in wiiich he was held by 
all the people in that populous eonuuuuity. 

The committee of Congress accompanied tlie remains of Major 
Hawk to ids final resting-place. He was buried in a beautiful 
cemetery on a high hill near Mount Carroll, \vith Christian rites 
and Masonic honors. Major Hawk was a member of the ( 'hristiiiu 
Church and believed fully. in a life beyond the grave. No one out-' 
side of his immediate family mourns his loss more than myself. No 
better or i)urer man has it lieen mv irood fortune to know. 



Address of Mr. Hampton, of South Carolina. 

Mr. Pre.sidi:xt : It was only as these resolutions which have; just 
been read from your desk were brought into this Chainbei- that you, 
sir, and your distinguished colleague asked me to say a few words 
of tril>ilte to the memory of the gallant soldier and upright Repre- 



ADDRESS OF MR. HAMPTON, OF SOUTH CAROIJXA. 41 

seatative wliose loss your State deplores. I regret exeeedingly that 
I have not had longer notice of this, for then I should have dis- 
ciiarged this melancholy duty with more satisfaction to the State 
tliat lionored him and to myself. 

The two earliest meetings between Major Hawk and myself 
were under peculiar circumstances. We met first amid the roar 
of battle, and neither of us knew the other. Years afterward, 
wlien he was placed in tlie other House, a fitting and honored 
Representative of the State of Illinois, I was sent to represent tlie 
State of Soutli Carolina in tliis Chamber, and coming here crippled 
as he was, in walking up these steps one day, I met bini, not 
knowing him, a man of commanding presence and of fine fiice, aud 
drawn to him by tiie common sympathy of a common affliction I 
ventured to speak to liim. 

We fell into conversation ; and after a few moments he said tc) 
me, without one feeling of resentment and with a kind smile ou 
his manly face, " I lost my leg in an attack that General Hampton 
made upon our camp." That was another bond of sympathy be- 
tween us ; and I am glad to say that during the brief time that he 
was spared tlie intercourse between us was that not of foemen but 
of friends, i learned to regard him then as a mau of high (char- 
acter, of sterling integrity, and of the very highest soldierly quali- 
ties, and it taught me this lesson, a lesson that cannot be impressed 
too often and too solemnly upon this country : that we are all now 
citizens of a common country, for the men who had fought, \yho 
had met in battle, and one of whom had been rendered a cripple 
for life, met his old fbeman as a friend, and that old foeman now 
feelingly pays this tribute to his memory. And, sir, I feel assured 
that the humble flower that I shall venture to lay upon his tomb 
will not be valued less because it comes from one who had been 
his foe, but who now mourns him as a friend. 



42 l^lt'Ii AND VUAIiAiTKi; (>!'• UOHEUT M. A. HAIfK. 



Address of Mr. George, of Mississippi. 

Mr. President : 1 did not know Mr. H.\wk. I lU'viTmet liini. 
It was my melancholy duty, in compliance with the wi.<lu!s of thi.s 
body expressed by the Chair, to accompany his remains to his home, 
to convey to his liimily and liis fri(nids the respect which the Senate 
of the United States had tlir his meiiiorv. 

I was very miicii struck by what I saw and what 1 hcaid at tlic 
villafje of Mount Carroll, at whicli the deceased iiad lived. On the 
day thaf we arrived there the whole population ui' that village, of 
all ages and of all sexes and of all conditious, turned out to show 
their respect for the memory of the decea.sed and to give their tes- 
timony, silent yet potent, to his worth. His remains were taken to 
the dwelling from which I learticd that less than a week i)efore we 
carried him back a lifeless corpse he had left in ftdl hcaltii and 
visor foi' this citvto discharo-c his duties as a member of Cony ress. 

That community gathered around that dwelling. It was my 
fortune, with other mendiers of the <'()nunittee, to be so placi'd for 
about two hours, during which we were detained at his dwelling, as 
to enable us to see, to survey, and to .scrutinize the faces of the very 
large crowd which had assembled to pay their re.spect to his mem- 
ory. It was a curious study to me, situated as T \va.s, to look on 
that large crowd, without seats, standing, waiting, on that hot July 
day, for the opportunity which was extended to all to pass through 
his dwelling and take a last look at his lifeless form. 

The ceremony, as I remarked, consumed at least two hours ; yet 
in all that time, with that crowd uncomfortably standing in the hot 
sun, I saw no impatiem^e, no restlessness, no sign of frivolity or 
eager curiosity. I saw only engraven upon the faces of all the 
men and women and children w'ho were present the signs of the 
deepest melancholy and sorrow for the loss they had su.stained in 
the death of Major Hawk. 

T moralized, Mr. President, in this way over that .scene, that 
here was a man who had livcil in that conuniuuty from his youth 
up; had .served them in a county oHice — I believe <'ounty clerk — 



AODRESH OF MR. GEOHCK, OF M ISSISSI I'l'l. 43 

fur ;i miiuber of years; was a member of one of the frateriiities, tlic 
Masonic fraternity ; was a member of one of the churches ; was an 
active participant in the discharge of all public and private duties, 
and after a long service at home had lieen called by that community 
and others in the same vicinity to a higher sphere, and that all this 
service had but the more endeared him to the people who knew him 
best. He had served that community and iiis district here for sev- 
eral years. His service had been so acceptable that at the date of 
his untimely death he had either been renominated or his renomi- 
natlon was assured for a seat in the next Congress; 

I learned this from the way that his neighbors behaved, the way 
they looked, and the way they exjn-essed themselves when they 
talked at all ; that they regarded him as their friend ; that in all that 
he had done in private life, in all that he had done in more humble 
positions to which tiiey had called him, and in all that he had done 
in the higher and more elevated position to which they in common 
with tlieir fellow-citizens in that Congressional district had called 
him, he had so acted as to impress upon them that he was indeed 
and in truth their friend. 

No higher compliment, no greater honor can ever be conferred 
upon a public servant than the rewgnition, as these people did rec- 
ognize, that their servant in all his acts was their friend. They 
gave this testimony. And if I might moralize now, I would say 
to my brother Senators as we are hastening to the same tomb, when 
our earthly career closes if we shall have been fortunate enough to 
have done like him, to have won from those whom we tried to serve 
the endearing epithet of friend, we shall have done well. 

The President /wo tempore. The question is on the adoption of the 
resolutions of the Senator from Illinois [Mr. Logan]. 

The resolutions were unanimously agreed to ; and the Senate ad- 
journed. 

O' 






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